What do we know about Renewable Energy?
Ask anyone today and they will have an understanding of the impact on society and our reliance on fossil fuels for our energy needs.
We also know the carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels is having an effect on the climate and is leading to global warming. And we’ll know it has consequences now, and for future generations.
Or maybe you think this is hype to get everybody to buy into renewables because government with business is using big stick techniques to bully us. Why would they do that? Because that’s what they always do. And because even if they thought about it, they don’t know how to engage with their own managers, leaders or implementers.
But then the question is so what? Is it all about fossil fuels? Do we really believe what we’re told? What can Mr and Mrs Public do about it?
In reality, apart from lobbying, driving the car less and recycling or moving to ‘green ‘ energy providers we can do very little. Like all things Global, it’s down to Governments to act.
Without going into the failures of the past, the UK government now has a legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.
Meeting the Targets – does money talk?
To meet this target it has introduced various financial incentives for homes and businesses to switch to renewable energy technologies, thereby reducing carbon emissions. These incentives take the form of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and the Feed in Tariff (FIT).
Solar power is a clear winner in the switch to renewables because the price of installation has fallen substantially over the last decade. More and more households in the UK are installing solar panels and enjoying the benefits of lower energy bills. In fact it is believed that 10 million homes in the UK will have solar panels by 2020.
The added financial motivator to switch is the fear generated as we’re open to the big energy companies raising prices as recent history has clearly shown.
By switching to these new energy sources, consumers are given more control over their future, less exposed to cost fluctuations and save money on today’s ‘lower’ prices. What more can you want?
Of course at the moment we’re also living in a dream world of 50% lower oil prices than a year ago and we’ve seen about a 33% reduction in petrol and diesel prices. And today that affects us immediately with more money left in our pocket. So we know the value of money. But if it were money as the only drive, wouldn’t we have all switched to renewables by now?
What’s the reality?
In the last few years £millions has been spent on an awareness campaign focused on consumer choice and the opportunity we all have to switch energy provider and reduce household energy costs. How many households have switched to a cheaper provider? In reality very few.
What does Google Say?
Why Google? Because it’s where we seem to think the authority is on everything. It’s on a website, in print so it must be true – really? Many people ‘google it’ and find 1 article on the first page of 200 million hits and believe what we read – perhaps because we don’t have enough time to do much else – we’re all too busy.
The two scientists responsible for Google’s failed attempt to launch a renewable energy revolution have written an article explaining what, according to them, went wrong with their project. They have come to the conclusion that fighting climate change with today’s renewable energy technologies won’t work – but they present no evidence for it, writes Energy Post editor Karel Beckman.
Critics of renewable energy are having a field day in the blogosphere. It has now been proven beyond doubt, they cry, that “renewables simply won’t work”. Why not? Well, because Google says so. Read the full article here – Why Google gave up on renewables (hint, they don’t understand energy)
Breaking the myths… reality check again!
People need to understand how renewable energy can be beneficial to their wallet, and to the environment. By teaching and sharing knowledge about the current developments on this area people will start learning the truth behind these technologies, and will stop using myths like “solar energy doesn’t work during winter” or “Wind turbines kill birds”.
Facts from the Bigger Picture – Sustainability
In the recent Accenture and UN Global Compact survey 93% of CEOs view sustainability as important for the future success of their business.
Although many organisations have built their strategic approach to sustainability, they are struggling to achieve full management and employee engagement in the agenda. They are therefore yet to see the results – if they ever will.
Research proves that the successful organisations are those who engage the hearts and minds of their people, and who demonstrate positive beliefs, attitudes and behaviours to drive business results. These organisations are also more innovative and take advantage of opportunities – in effect they are the early adopters, winning all the way!
They also acknowledged early on, that implementing a successful sustainability strategy requires achieving a mind shift – maybe a paradigm shift – at an executive and operational level within the organisation. Developing positive leadership and ‘Can do’ attitudes helps organisations achieve outstanding results and outperform their competitors.
Engaging Hearts and Minds
There’s lots written and known about the value of an engaged workforce. But if it were common place the results would be much better – Gallup’s 2013 survey shows similar engagement levels to previous years and at 17% of the workforce it’s nothing to be proud of. Imagine what a 1% increase would mean? That’s 1/17th increase or 6% improvement overall – is that worth looking at?
With our experience and results we’d agree with Accenture’s findings – because it’s great leaders that get great results as they find the solution to engage each individual in their team.
Great leaders have the right mindset, and as Warren Bennis said
“Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing. Both roles are crucial, and they differ profoundly.”
But today we seem to have too many managers and too few leaders. So the balance is way out! We need both and effectively applied to every context so we get the best answer.
Who are your great leaders? History proves that developing great leaders is not easy.
But leaders aren’t just born, as many still believe, leaders are made. So how do you make them? Again all the evidence and research shows training and coaching, the traditional approaches don’t work – only 10% might be converted into workplace improvement.
What about an alternative?
The recent “Good to Great” by McKinsey report referred to case studies and rigorous academic research that shows if you want to create and spread excellence, eliminating the negative is the first order of business. How you do that? The McKinsey study leaves it to you to fathom out.
At Mind Fit we identify negative activities through the term ‘Behavioural WasteTM’ and the experience of being trapped or ignoring gaps between beliefs and reality generates much of that. Our process further raises your awareness and that of your business about how your attitudes and behaviours and that of your people, impact on everyone’s ability to perform to their optimum, lead and engage, work in teams, and ultimately improve performance.
We do not assume that we know your issues and thatwe have the solutions that you need before we start to work with your organization. We work in partnership with our clients’ so that the input activities that you choose to change are relevant to you and your business.
So what next?
The choices are all yours:
- You can continue on your own path and engage in renewables
- Use traditional training and coaching methods to improve your engagement
- Free yourself, your people and your business from those blocking behaviours and outperform your expectations enhance and expand renewables
If you choose to reduce the negative attitudes and behaviours blocking your success, then we’d be pleased to have a discussion to see how we can help.
But whatever you do to take advantage of renewable energy, make it your conscious choice.
